It is known to provide basketball backboards, whether of regulation size or otherwise, with advertising or other indicia painted or permanently affixed on the backboard surface. However, such available methods of displaying advertising or other indicia present certain problems. For example, where it is desired to change the advertising or other indicia, the backboard must either be re-painted or replaced in its entirety with a new backboard having the desired advertising or other indicia. As one can appreciate, the need for re-painting or replacing the backboard every time it is desired to change the advertising or other indicia displayed on the backboard can be prohibitively expensive and time consuming.
Additionally, there is a great demand for advertising space at college or professional basketball games. A potentially premium location or displaying advertising or other indicia are the basketball backboards. However, permanently affixing advertising or other indicia on the backboard is unsatisfactory because the advertising or other indicia could be distracting to the players during the game, or unacceptable to the governing body. Moreover, advertising or other indicia affixed to the backboard could also obstruct the view of spectators located behind the basketball backboards. Thus, it would be desirable if advertising or other indicia could be displayed on the backboard before and after the game, but quickly and easily removed from the backboard just prior to the game.
Thus a need exists in the art for a means of displaying advertising or other indicia on a basketball backboard wherein the advertising or other indicia can be removed or changed realatively quickly, inexpensively, and without damage to the backboard.
Moreover, in addition to advertising, it would be desirable to display other indicia such as, for example, university, college, or other school insignias or logos; corporate insignias or logos (such as real estate companies, athletic equipment, apparel or shoe manufacturers; insurance companies; beverage companies, etc.); and professional sports team insignias or logos. Additional examples of suitable indicia include holiday insignias or decorative insignias, which are particularly well-suited for homeowner backboards.
There is yet another need in the basketball backboard art. Basketball backboards are oftentimes used and stored in outdoor environments, as, for example, in playgrounds, mounted on a pole adjacent a driveway, or mounted on the roof above a garage. Such backboards are usually made from inexpensive rigid materials such as plywood. However, in outdoor environments, basketball backboards may suffer from increased wear when subject to outdoor elements such as rain, sleet, snow, freezing temperatures, etc. Thus, there is a need in the art for a means of protecting basketball backboards that are mounted in an outdoor environment from the outdoor elements.
The present invention addresses all of the above-discussed needs.